ALTON TOWERS owner Merlin Entertainments said it had “learned every lesson” from last year’s Smiler rollercoaster crash as it revealed that visitor numbers were still being affected.

The group said the Alton Towers theme park had seen trading start to recover, but admitted that visitor numbers were still “some way” below levels before the collision, in which two teenagers each lost a leg.

Merlin was fined £5million after admitting health and safety breaches.

Chief executive Nick Varney said: “We have learned every lesson from what happened last year and made a number of technical and procedural improvements to make sure that an accident like this cannot happen again.”

Merlin said its resort theme parks – which also include Thorpe Park and Chessington World Of Adventures – was now seeing year-on-year growth in like-for-like revenues, up 3 per cent in the nine months to September 17, after signs of a recovery at Alton Towers.

Shares in Merlin were down 27.5p to 442.1p.

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Heathrow have called for their flight cap to be raised by 70 extra journeys a day

Call for flights cap to rise

HEATHROW wants its cap on flights to be raised by almost 70 per day four years before a new runway would open.

Airport bosses believe adding 25,000 more flights to the existing annual limit of 480,000 would lead to a “Brexit boost” worth £1.5billion to the UK economy between 2021 and the opening of a third runway in 2025.

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The measure could mean new routes to UK destinations such as Dundee, Newquay and Liverpool.

Ministers are currently considering which project to support – a new runway at Heathrow, an extended runway proposed by Heathrow Hub, or a second runway at Gatwick.

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Argos to recruit 10,000 staff to deal with seasonal rush

Argos to recruit 10,000 staff

HIGH street retailer Argos is to recruit more than 10,000 seasonal staff to work in its stores over the busy Christmas period.

Customer advisers and stock assistants are among the jobs being offered at the firm’s 840 stores, as well as drivers for its distribution service.

Initial contracts for all vacancies are around three to four months, with the potential for some roles to become permanent at the end of the season.

Recruits will be offered a minimum of 10 hours a week and six hours at weekends. Argos said there will be around 8,400 jobs on offer in England, 870 in Scotland, 530 in Wales and 380 in Northern Ireland.